An avalanche of more than 100 apples rained down over a main road in Keresley, Coventry on Monday night.

The street was left littered with apples after they pelted car windscreens and bonnets just after rush-hour.

The bizarre downpour may have been caused by a current of air that lifted the fruit from a garden or orchard, releasing it over the junction of Keresley Road and Kelmscote Road.

One driver said: "The apples fell out of the sky as if out of nowhere. They were small and green and hit the bonnet hard.

There are no apple trees in the area, and causes such as falling from airplanes or being lobbed as a prank have been ruled out. Most likely is that the apples were picked up by what amounts to a miniature tornado which dropped them some distance from the source trees. Could such a peculiar event be the result of our increasingly altered climate?

Jim Dale, senior meteorologist, from British Weather Services, said: "The weather we have at the moment is very volatile and we probably have more to come.